


Hoping (to fail)

by KivaEmber



Series: Wine Cellar [49]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Ascians (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 09:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19809592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KivaEmber/pseuds/KivaEmber
Summary: SHADOWBRINGERS SPOILERSEmet-Selch finds the Warrior of Lightirritating.





	Hoping (to fail)

**Author's Note:**

> so this is a lot of headcanon and theories for where ShB plot is headed, as a warning

Every time Emet-Selch had to look at the Warrior of Light, he was nearly overcome with an urge to throttle him. 

There were a few reasons why: his face, his clothes, his expressions, his voice, his vacant staring, his stoic nodding, his ignorance, his personality, his- _everything_. All combined into one frustrating package that kept _bumbling_ into his plans like some clumsy kitten that just couldn’t leave well enough alone. He was a fool, a childish one that clung tight to his little Scion pets, and Emet-Selch had no patience for him. 

And that wasn’t touching on the Warrior of Light’s greatest sin of all: _his soul_. 

Or rather, the ugly, wounded fragment of it. It physically _pained_ Emet-Selch to look at it. A mere _shade_ of what it once was, its hue washed out and weak, cracks running through from where it had been fractured off the whole. Emet-Selch couldn’t help but feel sympathy-pain cringe through him every time he beheld it - especially as he knew how it _originally_ looked. It angered him to see that half-broken _thing_ parade about like it deserved to live in its sorry, dying state, his fingers _itched_ to try and stitch it back to some semblance of _acceptability_. 

It also, annoyingly, filled him with hope. 

The last time he saw something like this had been the Warrior of Light of the First. Emet-Selch couldn’t remember the name, just recalled that he had also been an idiot like this one, a sentimental bleeding heart that was led perfectly by the nose, but failed to perform as he should’ve at the right moment. Elidibus had thought to use the failure to salvage the situation by pitting him against, well, his other fragment in the Source, and while it didn’t go _exactly_ to plan, it had salvaged the situation enough so they didn’t have a repeat of the Thirteenth. 

That same failure though… did it linger still? Sometimes, Emet-Selch _swore_ he could sense that fragment shadow the Warrior of Light’s steps. A potential rejoining? Not that it would solve anything, as the soul was stretched so thin they’d need a few more of the fragments to make any kind of progress in fixing that abominable… _mess_. But the possibility was _there_ , and two fragments still held the potential for… _remembering_. 

Emet-Selch had been telling the truth, after all, of being able to raise a soul fragment to its previous office. They weren’t _exactly_ the same as the original whole, but they linked a lot of their memories to their office, there to be received when that fragment was raised up. The Warrior of Light would _remember_ , and their greatest and most irritating obstacle would be neatly removed - why, they would even become an _ally_ , and a seat that had been lying empty since Amaurot’s fall would finally be filled by its rightful owner again. 

Emet-Selch would also be able to ask them why, back then, they had _refused to-_

…

But, of course, this relied on ‘ _Aza Lynel_ ’ containing the Light. At the moment, he was doing so magnificently, and it made Emet-Selch tentatively optimistic. The Warrior of Light also wasn’t overtly hostile to his diplomatic overtures, and asked him questions regarding the Ascians and their true purpose, seemed contemplative at Emet-Selch’s words - the groundwork was _there_. He just needed some more patience. 

Still, he couldn’t help but aggressively want for things to speed up a bit. Looking at the Warrior of Light was absolute _agony_ for him, and with such a prize so close at hand, even he could admit to some excitement. Perhaps, if negotiations went swimmingly and ‘Aza’ retook his office, Emet-Selch would reward him by constructing an illusion of Amaurot - yes, that might jog some important memories associated with his office, smooth things along better. He may even reconstruct Hythlodaeus to something more self-aware than a simulacrum - those two had always been on friendly terms…

It all depended on how this mad scheme of theirs went with that giant Talos. It was so _promising_. The Warrior of Light, a bumbling fool or not, still performed an impressive feat in uniting all of Norvrandt to a single cause! At least that skill of his hadn’t waned with the mutilation of his soul. Useful to have, if he turned to their side once more. 

And this, this was why Emet-Selch wanted to strangle the Warrior of Light at times. This _hope_ , a squirming, tiny thing that clawed out of the suffocating grief that had choked him for eons. If _‘Aza’_ accepted his place, if he did this, if he did that, then the Ardor’s progress would _accelerate_ , their goal in reach, their people, their _home_ \- 

But looming behind that pitiful burst of hope, was caution, for if the Warrior of Light failed to contain the Light, rejected his proposal, forced Emet-Selch to kill him ( _again_ ), then… well, the disappointment would be _crushing_ . Emet-Selch might just mount a campaign to erase any and all traces of _that soul_ from existence just to save himself the headache ( _heartache_ ) in the future. 

He hated it. Really. If only the Warrior of Light had _any other soul…_

But he didn’t, so Emet-Selch had to deal with this instead. 

Typical. 

( _he hoped he succeeded_ )

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
( _he also hoped he would fail_ )

**Author's Note:**

> The sidequests and talking to npcs in Amaurot really do kinda imply that WoL might've been the fourteenth member of the council that the other Ascians sat on, the one who left before the summoning of Zodiark (potentially in protest), and is recognised as someone who Emet-Selch would 'know' by Hythlodaeus (who also calls you "my old new friend" and also said he was close friends with Emet-Selch). It's a neat implication, and I'm dying to know if WoL _is_ one of the Fourteen, and if so, then what his office was called (and his true name!). 
> 
> But ye, so, here's my super self-indulgent headcanon about it, and how Emet-Selch was probably gritting his teeth all through ShB about this haha
> 
> (i also think this is why Emet-Selch was probably so furious with WoL near the end for failing to contain the Light - like, he probably started to think that there was a chance to 'regain' one of the broken ascian souls, but nope, lol, WoL fucks things up again the scamp)


End file.
